6 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



may have refreshed themselves after their London 

 season by a tour in the counties of Devon and 

 Somerset. The traveller who has started from 

 Bridgwater and journeyed to Lynmouth and Linton, 

 by Dunster, Minehead, and Porlock, and who, 

 having luxuriated in these lonely and romantic 

 spots, has flitted to Barnstaple by the north coast 

 of Devon, and returned by the valley of the Taw, 

 will, by the time he has again reached his point of 

 departure, have almost made the circuit of the 

 wood and wilds which, but a few years ago, were 

 the favourite haunts of the wild deer. Of late 

 years their range has been more limited, and they 

 are now principally confined to the wild and high 

 moorland region of Exmoor, and the open lands 

 stretching away to the Ouantocks, a district flank- 

 ing the Bristol Channel, and extending from north 

 to south about forty miles, and east to west about 

 fifty miles. 



Formerly the district known as Exmoor was an 

 open, uncultivated, and dreary waste, studded on 

 the outskirts with deep woods clothing the sides 

 of the hills, and stretching down to the mountain 

 streams. Besides the red deer, the fox, marten, 

 badger, and otter, there were few denizens, save 

 the wild ponies and mountain sheep, which strayed 



